Current Article

I’ve been doing a lot of Stumbling lately in the attempt to make my profile stronger to cause each thumbs up I give to drive more traffic. So far it has been working, however, I have come across fork in the road to the top 50 page where I can either continue on the same track or chose to take a look around and decide if it is really the right direction.

Reviews And Fans Matter

A look on the Top 50 Stumblers page reveals some very interesting results about what it takes to get there. As I previously known it is not simply a case of stumbling giving the thumbs up/down to as many pages as possible because the number of reviews and fans you have is clearly important.

Stumbling Videos And Photos Is Vital

What is most surprising is that the number of photos and videos stumbled seems to have a massive impact. One of the Top 50 Stumblers likes just 535 pages, which is more than 700 less than I do. He has the same number of fans and less reviews. The only visible difference is the number of videos he has stumbled, 465 to my 14. The number of ‘thumbs down’ may also be a factor. Therefore according to that Stumbler I need to rate more videos.

Another Top 50 Stumbler has very similar stats to me and only 17 more photos are rated. Is it possible that this small number of photos could make such a big difference? I have rated a meagre 3 photos, so perhaps it is rated proportionally. I.e. that Stumbler has rated over 6x more photos than I have.

Conclusion

What you can take from this simple analysis is that if you want to take on the achievable task of becoming a Top 50 Stumbler don’t mindlessly click the thumbs up/down. Take the time to do it on some videos like this one. You can join me on my quest to the Top 50 page by adding me as a friend and reviewing me, I will review you too.

Building a StumbleUpon power profile is really important if you want to get loads of traffic for your thumbs up. Before reading this article, I was thinking of doing a SU marathon on videos, I was trying to see if rating only videos can help me get into to the top50.

Chris,
I have read Maki’s article and commented. It is an alternate opinion. Recently in the last week I have been building my SU profile and it has sent large amounts of traffic to Blogging Fingers and I have had reports that it sent large amounts to the sites I discovered, which suggests to me that building a ‘power profile’ it does make a difference.

However, my overall view is that we do not have enough information to from a valid conclusion and that Maki’s article is largely StumbleBait, even if some the points are true such as submitting good content brings more stumbles.

“However, my overall view is that we do not have enough information to from a valid conclusion and that Maki’s article is largely StumbleBait, even if some the points are true such as submitting good content brings more stumbles.”

That’s ridiculous. How is my article ‘largely stumblebait’? That’s not only incredibly insulting but it shows that you didn’t go through my entire article carefully.

On another note, look at your own article + title. Don’t call someone out when you are writing yet another article on ‘useful ways to become a top 50 stumbler’.

I’m not telling anyone how to become a stumbler. My article clearly refutes all the ones that I’ve read who regurgitate the same arguments again and again and again and again.

“However, my overall view is that we do not have enough information to from a valid conclusion”

You are contradicting yourself by suggesting earlier that the number of reviews and fans you have is ‘clearly important’

The StumbleUpon Help page gives you clear indication of what factors account for being regarded as a top stumbler and you still insist that other undecipherable code/algorithm is in play here.

The tone of my post is experimental. I am not pretending to have ‘uncovered the algorithm’, I am simply stating that other factors are involved such as stumbling videos and photos.

Going by your post this is correct, because videos and photos tend to get more thumbs up after submission causing the Top Stumblers/submitters ‘community karma’ to increase. Therefore my advice to submit videos and photos was correct even if it were for the wrong reasons.

The real question is what does ‘community karma’ mean. Does it mean a superficial rise in rankings or something else as well?

I apologise if you feel offended by me calling it Stumblebait. I essentially agree with you that content is by far the main factor.

“As I previously known it is not simply a case of stumbling giving the thumbs up/down to as many pages as possible because the number of reviews and fans you have is clearly important.”

You are saying that the number of reviews and fans you have clearly matters if you want to get into the top stumblers list.

This is vastly inaccurate. I have seen many others with more reviews and fans who are not listed, my own account is an example.

Why still perpetuate this disinformation when the entire top stumblers list is screwed up? When StumbleUpon clearly states that fans and reviews are not counted?

“Take the time to do it on some videos like this one. You can join me on my quest to the Top 50 page by adding me as a friend and reviewing me, I will review you too.”

This is what I really dislike. You are pushing your own content and account based on your current article on StumbleUpon. On how stumbling videos and photos will get you in the top stumblers list (when they don’t guarantee it).

You then suggest that you and others can do the same by stumbling videos and photos AND practicing reciprocal befriending and reviews.

Try to understand that the top stumblers list is arbitrary and hand-edited. If you’ve been active and around long enough you will notice how it includes non-active users with less contributions and explicitly ignore active ones which are actually an asset to the community.

“One of the Top 50 Stumblers likes just 535 pages, which is more than 700 less than I do. He has the same number of fans and less reviews.

The only visible difference is the number of videos he has stumbled, 465 to my 14. The number of ‘thumbs down’ may also be a factor. Therefore according to that Stumbler I need to rate more videos.”

This is algorithm mumbo-jumbo again. Why only focus on the visible differences? There may be a wealth of underlying factors which cause him to be listed and you not. I’m sure you know your correlation is extremely weak.

I know you’ve apologized but I just want to let you know that I was highly irritated by your condescending attitude.

Just because I write about StumbleUpon doesn’t mean that my article should be categorized as pure drivel that’s largely created to get fanboy (or fangirl) attention.

For the sake of your readers, I need to clarify my position. This is the comment I’ve left on my article, in response to you calling it ‘Stumblebait’.

———————————————
@Matt Jones

This article is not intentionally created as ‘Stumblebait’, unlike some other pieces I see elsewhere.

And I actually don’t care what ‘regular’ users will think because this is not for them.

It’s very clear who I’m talking to in this article.

This is for all the ’social media experts’, bloggers and marketers who spring out of the woodwork and write articles, guides, hacks and tools for StumbleUpon, while not even using, understanding, appreciating or contributing to the social community.

They are really free to write what they want, for all I care. I’m just responding to the overwhelming obsession with the SU algorithm and the top stumblers list. I think its unnecessary, even for those who purely use SU as a traffic tool.

This is to correct what I consider to be disinformation on the (exaggerated) value of being a top stumbler. To also address the incessant focus on analyzing and cracking the SU algorithm.

Being a power stumbler has NOTHING on how much traffic you will get. Try using SU long enough on the same sites and you’ll see. Everyone has the same problem with the diminishing number of StumbleUpon visitors.

It’s all about creating content that works. That is all.

Networking and power accounts are essential for social media websites like Digg (as I’ve mentioned) but not for StumbleUpon.